Punjab Police takes fight against drugs to logical conclusion in 2013

Chandigarh, December 28: 2013 witnessed the Punjab Police take the fight against drugs campaign launched by Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to its logical conclusion by striking at the heart of the drug mafia even as the common man breathed a sigh of relief with street crime coming to a virtual end in Punjab.
The year also saw the launch of the 181 police help line which has given a new meaning of community policing besides night patrolling and establishment of highway patrol centers and even a 24 dedicated rapid rural response system to ensure prompt action on distress calls received from villages.
The Punjab Police continued to notch successes in its fight against militancy by bursting modules targeting Shiv Sena leaders in Fatehgarh Sahib, Amritsar and Pathankot. There was no law and order problem in the State this year even as a singular case of communal tension in Malerkotla was tackled effectively and not allowed to escalate at all.
The proactive policing model introduced by DGP Sumedh Singh Saini under the guidance of Home Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is set to lead to the initiation of the Rs 135 crore Safe City projects in Ludhiana and Amritsar next year.
The impact of the integrated drive against drug trafficking can be gauged from the fact that the seizure of high-grade drugs like heroin have increased manifold. The figures of heroin seizures in the state in the last three years are as under:-
YEAR                                      HEROIN SEIZURE
2011                                      100 kgs
2012                                      278 kgs
2013 (upto 25-12-2013) 413.409 kgs
The increase in heroin seizures is due to a sustained drive by the state police against drug trafficking, by adopting a zero-tolerance policy. DGP Sumedh Singh Saini set the ball rolling a few months back while directing senior officers to crack down on drug trafficking by going after the king pins. Officers were also directed not to rest content by arresting couriers but go in for forward and backward linkages so that those responsible for import of the drugs as well as the recipients could be proceeded against.
It was due to this change in tactics including two tier interrogations of smugglers that the Punjab Police was able bust an international synthetic drug racket involving a former weight lifter and dismissed DSP – Jagdish Bhola in the last quarter of the year. The investigations of the racket which has led to seizure of a few hundred quintals of precursors used to manufacture drugs like ice and ecstasy, including seizures from factories in neighbouring States.                                         
The year also witnessed a virtual end to street crime. The issue was flagged off in the beginning of the year with cities like Ludhiana experiencing an increase in snatching incidents. Immediately after the launch of the drive against petty crime, which resulted in arrests of chain snatchers across the State, petty crime dropped to an all-time low in Punjab.
Punjab Police was also successful in tackling the nefarious designs of anti-national forces like the ISI of Pakistan by thwarting attempts by militats to assassinate three Shiv Sena leaders including Harvinder Soni in Fatehgarh Sahib, Surinder Billa in Amritsar and Yograj Sharma in Pathankot.
To address the issues relating to women, senior citizens, children and NRIs, a unique helpline “181” was also launched in mid-year. A number of cases of domestic violence, abuse and harassment have been resolved in a time bound manner by the helpline. The most interesting fact was that in some cases Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal himself rang up the complainants to know whether they were satisfied with the action taken by the force.
The Punjab government has also focussed on changing the public perception regarding Punjab police by ensuring maximum community participation. The Punjab police started the SAANJH project to bridge disconnect between community and police. SAANJH kendras are successfully working in 87 Sub Divisions and 50 police stations.
Punjab became the first state in the country to have 400 strong police force for the Night Policing initiative launched in mid this year. Police personnel respond to distress calls in the remotest rural areas in just twenty minutes.
 A separate NRI Wing has been set up under an IGP rank officer this year and number of NRI Police stations has been increased to 11. Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) led by a SP rank officer were formed in every district to deal with cases of sexual assault against women and children.